Press Room

March 2014

The University of West Georgia recently announced that the QEP, or Quality Enhancement Plan, will focus on the importance of undergraduate writing in the core curriculum. In order to choose the topic, UWG faculty were asked to submit topics for the QEP. Once the submission process was complete, the Faculty Senate and the President’s Advisory Council worked together to select the topic that would best serve the university’s constituents.

University of West Georgia sophomore Brandon La Sure experienced a new level of happiness on this year’s International Day of Happiness. On March 20, Grammy winner Pharrell Williams chose La Sure’s #UWGHappy video for the 24 Hours of Happiness competition. The video was created showing UWG students and staff doing their “happy” moves to the Grammy nominated tune. The video can be viewed by clicking here.

One New Year’s Resolution almost everyone makes is to get fit and stay healthy in the new year. However, maintaining that plan is often easier said than done. With obesity and other health-related issues on the rise in the United States, maintaining a healthy lifestyle has never been more important than it is today.

The University of West Georgia Center for Public History annual student showcase is set for Thursday, March 27, 2014, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Ingram Library. This year’s event, titled “Road Trip: Experience Public History Partnerships,” is free and open to the public and will feature a compilation of student research projects, exhibits and presentations.

The University of West Georgia’s Center for Student Involvement will host Third Eye Blind and Panic! at the Disco for the 2014 spring concert. Tickets are currently available to the general public, and can be purchased through the Townsend Center for Performing Arts. The concert will be at UWG Coliseum on April 3, 2014. Doors will open at 7 p.m., with the concert starting at 8 p.m.

In celebration of National Criminal Justice Month, Dr. David Jenks, University of West Georgia professor and chair of criminology, will travel to West Georgia Technical College campuses to share information about the schools’ transfer articulation agreement. The agreement allows WGTC students with an associate’s degree in criminal justice to automatically transfer their credits to UWG and begin working on their bachelor’s degree in the award-winning criminology department. The information sessions will be held during March.

University of West Georgia students are once again featured in the 2014 AJC Peachtree Road Race T-shirt Design Contest. Two of the five finalists, Natasha Stansel and Kristen Cone, are graphic design students currently enrolled at UWG. The public can continuously vote for their favorite design at http://www.ajc.com/s/sports/peachtree/. The winning design will be featured as the 2014 Peachtree Road Race official t-shirt and will be announced at the race finish line on July 4, 2014.

University of West Georgia head football coach Will Hall has received another entry into his every-growing and impressive resume, as he will be one of 15 athletic standouts inducted into the Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday, April 29.

Several University of West Georgia students were featured in the 2014 Graphis New Talent Annual Competition including two who received the Gold Award. The students submitted their work to the international contest as a class requirement and subsequently netted several impressive wins. Their award-winning pieces will be featured in the Handbound Annual, along with other examples of the best student work worldwide in design, photography and advertising.

The University of West Georgia celebrated Tom Murphy’s March 10 birthday with 90 cupcakes in the Ingram Library lobby at 12 p.m. The late Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives would have turned 90 years old. Additional activities were held on Sunday, March 9, including the 2 p.m. annual meeting of the Penelope Melson Society in the library nook, “White Gloves” tours of Special Collections and a reception from 3-4 p.m. Special Murphy birthday items from the archives were also exhibited in the Murphy Reading Room cases in the library.

The University of West Georgia College of Education celebrated the grand opening of The Fusion Center and Comprehensive Community Clinic on Feb. 28. The event took place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the new UTeach and Clinic offices located in the Education Annex. Dr. Kyle Marrero, president of UWG, hosted the opening remarks at 4 p.m. Click on the photo to the right to play the full video.

University of West Georgia has named Dr. J. Micheal Crafton as the new provost and vice president for academic affairs. In addition to serving as the chief academic officer of the university, Crafton will lead the entire division of academic affairs and take on the role of chief executive officer when UWG President Dr. Kyle Marrero is absent. Crafton, who has held the same position at Clayton State University since 2009, will replace UWG Interim Provost Dr. Donadrian Rice.

The University of West Georgia is participating in the Orange Duffel Bag initiative, a Georgia 501c3 public charity designed to improve education success, ongoing advocacy and service to the community in a spirit of offering hope and positive systematic change.